Sunday, June 1, 2014

No reclaim of UDA shares, says CEO

The
Group Chairman of the Simon Group Ltd holding the majority shares of the Dar es
Salaam City Transport Company known by its Kiswahili acronym ‘UDA’ or Usafiri Dar es Salaam, Robert Kisena has
refuted claims that his company bought the shares at a throw away price. Such claims
were raised by Members of Parliament early this week when contributing the
budget estimates for the Ministry of Transport in the on-going national budget
debate sessions for 2014/15 fiscal year. The MPs alleged that, the investors
had bought the company’s shares at a cheapest price rates which were sold at Sh.
145/- each instead of Sh. 1,600/- as slated by the government according to KPMG a consulting
accounting firm contracted to evaluate the shares.Kisena clarified
the issue last week in a telephone interview when contacted with a view to get
the authenticity of the controversy surrounding the transaction and confirmed that
his firm bought the shares at Sh. 1,620/- each. He added that since his company
bought the shares in 2009 it had acquired 76.7 per cent stake with 20
buses, but now four years down the lane they are operating with over 500 fleet
of buses. He further noted that, since then they had entered an agreement with the
government and both sides settled down their operation in a peaceful manner. “We
do not have a problem with the government, those raising claims about the
shares are mere speculation which should not be entertained at all” he said
adding that if there is any problem on the transaction they could raise such
claims since then, he queried. However, he said that, does it sound in mind to
look for the authenticity by now and yet when the UDA shares were acquired by
his company it had only 20 fleet of buses operating in the city, and now are
boasting of having over 500 buses operating in the city. On Monday last week, MPs
demanded that the government has a reason to reclaim its shares in UDA that it
had sold to Simon Group Company and sell them at higher prices to recoup the
resultant loss and end the controversy surrounding the transaction.

CEO of the Simon Group Ltd, Mr. Robert Kisena

Nzega
legislator, Dr Hamis Kigwangala (CCM) said there has been a lot of hearsay
regarding the possession of UDA shares but the government is yet to provide
adequate answers. However, he suggested that UDA management should buy back the
shares at a proposed market price. For his part, Kasulu legislator, Moses
Machali (NCCR - Mageuzi) blamed officials who allowed the shares of the
transport company to be sold at a throw-away price. “If the Dar es Salaam City
Council sold its shares to the investors who is to blame? We have to allow them
to operate and serve people in the area,” he said. Murtaza Mangungu, Kilwa
North legislator (CCM) said the transaction of UDA shares is still marred by
complications and suggested that, the government should compensate the
investors and reclaim the shares then start a new procedure to sell them to the
public. Freeman Mbowe, Hai Legislator (Chadema) said there have been
contradicting statements from government officials regarding the sale of UDA
shares. “This is a shame to the government. Attempting to clarify the matter,
minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Coordination and
Parliamentary Affairs) William Lukuvi said the issue of UDA has been forwarded
to the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) for further
investigation. He said PCCB has been tasked to confirm the authenticity of the
transaction of the shares between government officials and the investors. In
May 2012, the then chairman of Board of Directors of Uda, Mr Iddi Simba, was
charged with eight counts, including forgery, and abuse of office that caused
over Sh2.4 billion loss to the transport company. Mr Simba, a former Cabinet
minister, was charged along with two Uda senior officials.

Deputy
Finance minister Adam Malima told Parliament last week that Uda was still
jointly owned by DCC and the government through TR. He stated the government’s
position when responding to a question by Ms Halima Mdee (Kawe-Chadema), who
wanted to know who the owners of Uda were and their stakes in the company.In
December 2013, the Local Authorities Accounts (LAAC) committee of the National
Assembly deplored the sale of shares of the Dar es Salaam Transport Company to
Simon Group, a city trading firm.Committee chairman John Lwanji (Manyoni West-CCM) said when tabling the
committee’s annual implementation report for 2013 and note4d that, the sale was
a grave mistake as it did not consider national interests at all.The committee received a joint
report on the implementation of the sale and entire operations of UDA Company
for scrutiny, upon which the committee discovered that the government cannot do
anything to save the company as it was sold via laid down rules of
tendering procedures.“What
is painful over the sale is that it was done as in accordance with the law
setting up the company, and that the Board of Directors was fully involved,” he
said and added that, the allotted shares were sold at a throw away price if the
property had no owner.

AWARD 1

I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony.

AWARD 2

I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above.

AWARD 3

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination" associated with HIV/AIDS. This was organized by theAssociation of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005.

AWARD 4

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about "Vulnerable Children" associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT)

AWARD 5

Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder.

AWARD 6

I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as “Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana” which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible”. This is a program which was organizedby the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam.

AWARD 7

AWARD 8

AWARD 9

I was among the top 17 best selected students who excelled in their final examinations of the 2010/2011 academic year and awarded with the Vice-Chancellor’s prize. I scored 4.5 GPA (First Class) in BA in Journalism. Above I am being given a certificate by the Chairman of the Open University of Tanzania Board of Senate. Standing at the centre facing camera is the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolly Mbwette. Extreme left partly hidden is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Elifas Bisanda. This occasion took place during the convocation meeting, a day before the graduation day at the prospective permanent headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania which is currently under construction at Bungo-Kibaha in Coast region 40 kilometers away west of Dar es Salaam city.